After a long wait, the Sandiganbayan cleared Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on 15 counts of graft on Friday, marking his vindication in a decade-old pork barrel case.

Enrile, thus, has been acquitted of complaints against him related to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2013.

The PDAF or pork barrel was allocated to all members of Congress. It was a lump-sum, discretionary fund intended to finance legislators’ pet projects.

Enrile’s exoneration came more than 10 years after he was indicted by the Ombudsman, who accused him of siphoning P172.8 million from his PDAF to bogus non-governmental organizations (NGOs) created by Janet Lim Napoles in exchange for kickbacks.

In a statement exclusive to DAILY TRIBUNE, Enrile said he thanked “the Lord foremost for this vindication and also the honorable justices of the Sandiganbayan who carefully studied the evidence and tried the case with fairness and discernment.”

He expressed elation that the acquittal covered both the criminal and civil aspects of the case.

It finally put “to rest years of pain, misunderstanding, and injustice,” he said.

Moreover, the veteran public servant said the decision reaffirmed the public’s faith in the rule of law and the integrity of our judicial system.

“May it serve as a reminder that truth and justice, though sometimes delayed, will always prevail,” he added.

Gigi Reyes cleared

Aside from the ex-senator, the Sandiganbayan also acquitted Napoles and Enrile’s chief of staff, Gigi Reyes, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. They were also acquitted of plunder in October last year, along with Enrile.

The 101-year-old Enrile, appearing frail and strapped to hospital tubes, attended the promulgation of the court’s decision via video.

Napoles also attended remotely, while Reyes, who turned emotional after hearing the verdict, was present in the court.

Reyes only muttered a quiet “thanks” when asked to comment, but her lawyer said they did not expect the court to rule in their favor.

No freedom for Napoles

Despite the exculpation, Napoles, on the other hand, will remain behind bars over other PDAF-related cases.

The Sandiganbayan Special Third Division found Napoles and two other officials guilty of graft, malversation of public funds, and falsification of public documents.

The complaint involved P29 million in pork barrel funds of former senator Gregorio Honasan from 2009 to 2010.

Aside from Napoles, the two others convicted of the offenses were former National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) president Gondelina Amata and Honasan’s former chief political officer, Michael Lim Benjamin.

The three were each sentenced to 12 to 17 years in jail, in addition to perpetual disqualification from public office and the revocation of retirement benefits.

They were also slapped with a fine of P4.05 million and required to return P4.05 million to the Bureau of the Treasury, plus interest.

JPE’s defense

Enrile pointed to the supposed lack of clear evidence that he received kickbacks from Napoles for endorsing her NGOs as implementers of his pet projects, which his PDAF funded.

The only witness who tried to link Enrile to the scheme was Ruby Tuason. However, the court found her testimony lacking in key details, such as the specific amounts allegedly delivered to Reyes intended for Enrile, the tranche, date, and location of delivery.

“Thus, Tuason’s testimony was not able to establish that Reyes received kickbacks or commissions intended for or on behalf of Enrile from his PDAF,” the 193-page decision read.

In granting Enrile’s demurrer to evidence, which led to his acquittal, the Sandiganbayan Special Third Division unanimously ruled that the prosecution failed to establish that his endorsement of Napoles’ NGO was made with evident bad faith, nor that he demanded any commissions from it.

The court also gave weight to the “inconsistencies” of the prosecution’s witnesses, Tuason and Benhur Luy, Napoles’ ex-financial officer, regarding the purported kickbacks.

Tuason told the court that the commission from the PDAF transactions was released in three tranches, while Luy claimed there were only two, effectively weakening their testimony.

Furthermore, the Sandiganbayan took into account Luy’s admission that he never met Enrile, had never seen him visit Napoles’ office, and had never witnessed his supposed agents delivering kickbacks to him.